Game nine: Women vs. South Dakota State

The #17/15 women's team faces South Dakota State (4-0) tonight at the Smith Center in the second game of the GW Thanksgiving Classic. On Sunday, GW (3-1) was dominated at home by #6/7 Rutgers 67-42. In that one, the Colonials shot 22% from the field and didn't get a single player into double figures in scoring.

The Jackrabbits, picked to finish third out of 10 teams in the Summit League, are 69-21 since making the jump to Division I three years ago. South Dakota State is coming off of a 25-5 campaign that ended in the third round of the WNIT to eventual champion Wyoming. The Jackrabbits would have likely made the NCAA Tournament last season, but the program is not eligible to do so until the 2008-2009 season as part of the NCAA reclassification process. Coach Aaron Johnston is 174-55 in his eighth season with the Jackrabbits.

South Dakota State returns four starters from last year's squad. They are led by a talented trio of 5-11 sophomore forward Ketty Cornemann (13.5 points, 3.8 rebounds per game this season), 6-1 sophomore forward Maria Boever (12.5 points, 7.3 rebounds), and 5-9 senior guard Andrea Verdegan (12.5 points, 4.3 assists), while 6-0 freshman guard/forward Kristin Rotert (12.3 points) is the Summit League's reigning Player of the Week. 6-0 junior forward Jennifer Warkenthien (9.7 points, six rebounds per game last season), a second team All-Summit League selection, and 6-0 junior guard/forward Stacie Oistad (19 points) have been limited in action due to injuries.

The Jackrabbits beat Missouri 78-63 in Brookings, SD on Sunday afternoon. In that one, Rotert led the way with 17 points off the bench, while Cornemann (16), Verdegan (14), and Boever (11) all reached double figures in scoring. Earlier last week, South Dakota State went on the road and beat Oregon 67-60. The Jackrabbits received votes in this week's Associated Press Poll.

This is the third-ever meeting between these programs; GW is 1-1. South Dakota State won the last meeting 78-53 in Brookings on January 6, 1998, outscoring the Colonials by 20 points in the second half. GW won the only meeting at the Smith Center 88-63 on February 8, 1997.

The Jackrabbits attempt a lot of threes (94 through four games) and shoot pretty well from that distance (36.2%). GW struggled with its perimeter defense against Rutgers, giving up a ton of open looks. I expect that coach Joe McKeown and company figured things out during this last week of practice, and am picking the Colonials in a close one.

Chase Carpenter and David Earl have the call for WRGW with Jordan Teller and Sammy Gelfand handling production duties. You can listen here starting approximately at 5.10 p.m.

Game notes: GW hasn't lost back-to-back games since December 2004, when they fell at Oregon 64-40 on December 4 and at BYU 76-70 on December 6...The Colonials have lost back-to-back home games only once in 19 years under McKeown...It happened in February 1990, when GW fell 69-62 to Temple on February 15 and 63-51 to West Virginia on February 17...Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky tip-off in the first game of the GW Thanksgiving Classic at three this afternoon...The GW Invitational originated in 1981 and ran until 1986...McKeown brought the event back for three years from 1993 to 1995...GW is 14-6 all-time in its own event, winning it all in 1985, 1993, 1994, and 1995...Sarah-Jo Lawrence is 19 points shy of becoming the program's 24th career 1,000-point scorer...McKeown is 15 wins shy of 500 for his career...The Colonials play Western Kentucky tomorrow.

Almost all of my staff is home for the holiday, but we'll try to get some information from the Smith Center as we get closer to tip-off. Please check back later.

Update, 5.51 p.m. - Here were the starting lineups:

South Dakota State
G - Macie Michelson (5-6 freshman from Lynd, MN)
G - Andrea Verdegan (5-9 senior from Glen Flora, WI)
F - Ketty Cornemann (5-11 sophomore from Yankton, SD)
F - Maria Boever (6-1 sophomore from Worthington, MN)
C - Courtney Grimsrud (6-2 senior from Sisseton, SD)

GW
G - Kimberly Beck (5-8 senior from Fairburn, GA)
G - Sarah-Jo Lawrence (5-11 senior from Rhoadesville, VA)
G - Lisa Steele (5-11 junior from Erial, NJ)
F - Antelia Parrish (6-0 junior from Washington, DC)
C - Jessica Adair (6-4 junior from Washington, DC)

Steele gets her first career start since Whitney Allen is out with a broken finger. Allen suffered the injury in the loss to Rutgers on Sunday. She is not expected to play in either game this weekend.

Update, 10.33 p.m. - No postgame audio as WRGW was the only media present. An uninspiring 65-60 win for the Colonials. Is McKeown's squad yet to recover mentally from the Rutgers game? Hopefully they figure it out before tomorrow because Western Kentucky is a pretty good team.

We'll be back tomorrow for the men's game at Maryland-Baltimore County. Thanks for stopping by.